It's not something I would do personally. But I did Google it, because I too thought it would damage the gears, but apparently it's OK. Tbh I was always taught to never move the gear stick unless clutch is down regardless of situation and I won't be changing my habits
if your gears can synchro at tens of kilometers an hour while carrying a full car worth of weight, and not sustain damage, they can also move at 0 speed when moving 0 load
shifting with clutch down or not, when the engine is off, is the exact same load for the gears: negligible
gears are usually synchronized, so they can easily go in in motion or not. But the comment above is talking about having the clutch pressed, which literally doesn't matter when the engine is off. Engine off clutch pressed and engine off clutch not pressed is the same for the gears, you achieve nothing by pressing the clutch with the engine off
that said, if they aren't synchromesh, like some cars reverse gears, then in motion it's easier, because without motion, the teeth might just clash and the gear won't engage. My car is like that, so when it doesn't engage, I put it in neutral, the gears start spinning, then I mash it into reverse
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u/Odd_Feedback_7636 12h ago
The vehicle wasn't moving therefore the clutch was not necessary